Switching it Up

Today and the rest of next week will be pretty quiet (quieter, I suppose--if that's possible.) Both of my supervisors will be gone for the week, making me an independent intern until further notice (also, nothing new, really.) Before they left, they gave me some final assignments to keep me busy. But, due to two of the stories flopping, I might for a change, find myself with very little to do. This could be a good thing or a really bad thing. While it is nice not to feel overwhelmed or behind, making the time pass by taking unnecessary bathroom and coffee breaks (as well as resisting the urge to update my facebook status bi-hourly) isn't so great either.

So far I have been writing for Grand Rapids Family magazine. My typical assignments are 200-400 word articles (most of mine are 500...all part of my "transition phase") entitled "front lines" or "Baby Knows" or "Mom's Today." I really like what I'm doing and am officially feeling confident with the writing I submit. But, in the spirit of switching things up, my boss assigned me a piece for the Grand Rapids Magazine before she left, the fall arts preview.

Basically, I have to get in touch with all the nearby colleges and put together an events calendar of all the performing arts going on; I'm doing the same for the professional performing arts as well, such as the Grand Rapids Symphony etc. Its a pretty comprehensive assignment, as I not only have to get in contact with the people from the art, theater, music departments (most places, especially the colleges, don't have their 2010-2011 calendar prepared yet) I have to chose which out of the plethora of events are worth promoting and do just that: make them sound great. The writing itself won't be hard, and I'm excited about the assignment as a whole, but the beginning here is a bit laborious, and my complaint, as it has been since day one, is having to wait on other people to get back to me with information. It's nice to try my hand at something else though, and writing for a different audience will be refreshing.